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Describe a kind of foreign food you like and you have had: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What the dish is?
  • Where you tried it?
  • What ingredients or taste you enjoyed?
  • And explain why you like it.
Show all 182 answers

Cue 1:What the dish is?

  • Begin by naming the foreign dish you enjoy and give a brief description of it.
  • Mention any unique features of the dish that make it stand out.

Example

One foreign dish that I absolutely love is sushi. It's a traditional Japanese dish that consists of vinegared rice paired with various ingredients, including seafood, vegetables, and sometimes tropical fruits.


Cue 2:Where you tried it?

  • Describe the location where you first tried this dish, whether it was a restaurant, a friend's house, or during a trip.
  • Share any memorable experiences related to that place.

Example

I first tried sushi at a popular Japanese restaurant in my city called 'Sushi House'. I went there with my friends to celebrate my birthday, and the ambiance was vibrant and welcoming, which made the experience even more enjoyable.


Cue 3:What ingredients or taste you enjoyed?

  • Talk about the specific ingredients that you liked in the dish.
  • Describe the flavors and textures that made the dish appealing to you.

Example

What I enjoyed most about sushi were the fresh ingredients, especially the salmon and avocado. The combination of the soft, sticky rice with the creamy avocado and the rich flavor of the salmon created a delightful taste that was both refreshing and satisfying.


Cue 4:And explain why you like it.

  • Explain your personal connection to the dish and why it holds significance for you.
  • Mention any cultural aspects or health benefits that contribute to your preference.

Example

I like sushi not only for its delicious taste but also because it represents a healthy eating option. It’s light yet filling, and I appreciate the artistry involved in making it. Additionally, trying sushi has opened my eyes to Japanese culture, which I find fascinating.


Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, sushi is more than just a meal for me; it’s an experience that combines flavor, culture, and health. I look forward to trying different varieties of sushi in the future and exploring more of what Japanese cuisine has to offer.


    Following this structure will ensure you cover all the essential points while providing a clear and engaging response to the cue card topic.


    Tips to answer this Cue Card

    1: Being Too Vague

    Candidates often provide unclear or general answers without specific details about the dish. This can make the response less engaging and informative.

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    Tip

    Include specific details about the dish, such as its name, ingredients, and unique flavors to create a vivid picture.


    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Some candidates fail to address all the cues provided, which can lead to incomplete answers and lower scores.

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    Tip

    Make sure to cover all the cues: what the dish is, where you tried it, what you enjoyed, and why you like it.


    Lack of Personal Connection

    Responses that lack personal anecdotes or feelings can seem flat and uninteresting, making it hard for the examiner to connect.

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    Tip

    Share a personal story or memory related to the dish to make your answer more relatable and engaging.


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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

    Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

    Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

    Answer

    I like to taste different types of cuisine. Here I would like to talk about my favorite dish at my traditional festival of Onam which is Sadya. Sadya is popular in my city. We are experimenting these cuisines on Onam festival day. Onam is a famous festival in my city. All family members get together in my home and we make a delicious Sadya. There are many ingredients includes that Sadya. Moreover, we make a big feast that day as well as we create a lot of memories together and we wear that day the traditional dress called Sari and men wear the Dhotis. That festival is really important to us because the whole day we are conducting different kinds of games at our homes and all the family members came together. It's a memorable day in my life. This is the festival. We are making the Sambar and Aviyal. These all the kinds of foods are making with the vegetables.

    Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

    location icon

    Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

    Answer

    The toy which I liked in my childhood was a panda doll, which makes me pleasant and makes me more blush. The pandas are the most beautiful creatures of the world, which looks gigantic and has pooshy cheeks and they are like stars in the clouds and they dream in me. Furthermore, these have been given by my father. My father is a very very beautiful artistic person, who makes me think of that. Every day you will face every difficulties and make you suffer and move forward. Pandas are always seen in Japanese countries. It is my lifelong dream to visit a Japanese country and click a photo with the original pandas, which makes sounds better.

    Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

    location icon

    Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

    Answer

    As India is a very large country full of diversity, so there are many places which have their own language and speak their native language. The place which I visited and I didn't know about their language was Leladakh, which is about 300 km away from my hometown and it is a very good place as it consists of different kind of trees, animals and have many scenic views and I visited over there last year in summers as it was the best time to visit because it has many, it was cold over there and we had summers in our area so it was the best time to visit over there and I went over there with my whole family.

    Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

    location icon

    Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

    Answer

    When I was a kid, I had a little pencil box which had these four buttons which gave the pencil box an operative use. When you press the button, the box would open up. When you press the second button, a little part of it would slide out. Basically it was just a little electronical and a fun thing to have and I owned it when I was in 6th. One day after break, I was standing and talking there with one of my friends and another friend of mine was running through the hallway and accidentally she pushed my shoulder and my pencil box hit the ground and it broke into multiple pieces to the point that it was not functional anymore.

    Describe a book you recently read
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    CBD Belapur Test Centre, Navi Mumbai

    Answer

    It Ends With Us is a book I read recently. It's by the author Colleen Hoare. It's mainly a story about two teenagers, Atlas and Lily, and how they just handle their life going through high school, adolescence, and just domestic violence at home. Both of them come from very, very different families. However, they have one common determining factor between them, which is domestic violence. The abuse that they've seen their moms go through is just insane, and they connect through that on a different level. They're actually in the same high school, but they never speak to each other until Atlas actually crashes into an empty house next to Lily's villa. When Atlas is homeless and he doesn't have anywhere to go, he just comes and breaks into the house next to Lily's, and Lily helps him with all the daily necessities like clothes and food, medicines and stuff. Furthermore, their friendship blossoms into love, but it doesn't really fructify as Atlas has to leave. This book really gave me a lot of knowledge about domestic abuse and how to deal with it.

    All Answers

    Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

    Band 7

    I would say it's a curry called Mambara Pulisheri. It is this dish my mom makes very often. It has a lot of cultural significance. Plus its ingredients include coconut, mango, and coriander leaf, sugar, etc. Which is why as I previously mentioned this has a lot of cultural significance. It literally is our ingredients which are available in Kerala most of the time. In fact when I was in Delhi living in a place called Sarai Julena, I really missed having Mambara Pulisheri. Most of the time I would crave for it but I would not be able to find fresh ingredients. Even though I tried making this it did not taste the same as what was made at home. Primarily because half of the ingredients were not available. I have tried in other restaurants in Delhi but it does not reach the same level as what is being made in Kerala. What I like about this dish is the fact that it is so creamy and rich. At the same time you could argue that this dish is vegan because there are no milk products in it. The milk used in it is coconut milk.

    Band 7

    Asuwa Seirai I am extremely passionate about food and I take my meals quite seriously. While I might love a good old South Indian platter just as much as the next person, I do believe that the range of restaurants that have cropped up in the recent years have led my palate to become far more diverse. So, at the moment I have a strong inclination towards Asian cuisines and flavours, of which one of my favourite cuisines is specifically the Thai cuisine, of which my favourite dish is the Thai curry that is served alongside a fragrant bed of jasmine rice. I do believe that this offers luxury and comfort both rolled into one and takes your taste buds on a journey you won't forget. While most Asian restaurants offer it, one of my favourite places to have it is a Thai restaurant in the city. This Thai restaurant not only offers a diverse menu of items that you can try, but the restaurant is an experience in itself because it has various pavilions where people sit and play musical instruments that are traditional to Thailand to give you the complete Thai experience. The experience and the food both go hand in hand and deliver the ultimate culinary delight that you will never forget. There are a range of ingredients that are used to make this lovely dish and one such ingredient is the coconut milk that gives it a certain fragrance and delicate nuance unlike any other. I particularly like the taste of coconut oil and lemongrass that comes together in a perfect symphony to give this dish a very distinct yet comforting taste. It is definitely one of my favourite dishes and I would love to reach out to it at any moment.

    Band 7

    I recently had the wonderful opportunity and a blessing to participate in the World Sociological Forum organized by International Sociological Association which was held in Rabat, Morocco. During my travel in Morocco I had the opportunity to try a new dish which is called baklava. It is an Arabic dessert. It was made of a vermicelli and pistachio. It had a very sweet taste and a creamy taste. It was creamy however it was also very crispy and sweet. It had layers of vermicelli stacked with pistachio fillings and cream between them. All of it wrapped in sugar syrup and it was really sweet and it was a totally different experience to try baklava for the first time in Morocco. It was a really fulfilling experience. I had been seeing many videos of baklava, people trying baklava on social media and I also wanted to try it for a long time. I was accompanied with my professor and we both tried it at the same time and the expressions on our face while we were eating the baklava was very fulfilling and satisfying because it really had a very sweet taste and now it is a very pleasant memory. I am very fond of baklava although I do not find it very tasty.

    Band 7

    So, back in 2024, I remember that I had visited to Malaysia, there I went to a restaurant named Afghani's where I tried some Afghani's delicacies. One of my favourite was Afghani Malai Chaap, it is so sumptuous and delicious. The presentation was mouthwatering at that time. I loved this dish because of the flavour. What make this dish tasty was the aroma of different kind of spices, moreover the richness of flavours get released into the gravy of dish. This was the favourite experience of mine in Malaysia. While I am talking to you, it is my tongue right now flabbering with the taste of that dish. I can't forget the taste and smell of the food, it's like heaven.

    Band 7

    The dish is biryani. It is one of the famous dishes in India. I love the flavor, the aroma and it just it is one of my comfort food because it reminds me of my mom's cooking. It has a burst of flavors and I just love it. I've been eating it often in home or at restaurants and they're different kind of biryani. I love chicken biryani the most. It just makes me happy and it's one of the fulfilling food. The chicken is good.

    Band 7

    One kind of foreign food that I absolutely love is Alfredo Pasta, an Italian dish that I first tried at a cafe called Red Door in Reyes Coast, Coimbatore. I heard it from my friends so one weekend I decided to give a try and honestly it turned out to be one of the best food experiences I have ever had. The pasta was cooked perfectly, soft but not mushy and the creamy white sauce had a rich buttery texture with just the right blend of cheese and herbs. It was garnished with fresh parsley and served with garlic bread on the side which made it even more irresistible. What really impressed me was how comforting and balanced the flavours were. It was slight sweet but that sweetness added the marks to the peak. It was overall very soothing. I like this dish moreover I like this dish because it gives me a break from regular South Indian food and lets me enjoy something international yet simple. Ever since then I have even tried learning how to make Alfredo Pasta at home though I must admit it never tastes quite as good as the one I had there.

    Band 7

    So the foreign food I really enjoyed having is the English breakfast. I actually happened to have it with my fiancé after my marriage got fixed. So we went to a restaurant called the 154 Breakfast Club which is nearby to where I stay. Even though we planned it for 11 o'clock, we reached there by 10.30. The service was overall fine and I have never tried an English breakfast before so it was my first time ordering it. It had a wide variety of different kinds of food including a French omelette. It had sausages, baked potatoes and tomatoes. Also some mushrooms. It also served us with some peas. I am not sure what exactly it is. I cannot name each of the ingredients. But overall it was a very wonderful experience because it was the first time where in a breakfast a lot of things were included. I am not sure whether it is healthy or if it is calorie deficient or anything like that but it felt so full. It also felt so... I personally felt like I had something very healthy. We also had some French toast along with that. That also tasted very delicious. We had a cup of tea which had a secret ingredient or masala or something like that mostly based in the US. The overall experience was very nice and warm. Me and my fiancé, we both wanted to try the English breakfast. They also asked us whether it wants to be served with a can of orange juice but we basically didn't want to have the orange juice at the time so we preferred to go with the tea.

    Band 7

    So, my favourite foreign food would undoubtedly be Italian food. Italian food provides a huge range of cuisines and my favourite cuisine is pizza. The authentic Neapolitan pizza that has its origins from Naples, Italy. Well, recently I have visited many cafes in Ahmedabad and most of the cafes have developed a culture for Italian food. The several cafes that I went to last month are Campanella, Capiche, Pepito, Ciao and From all these, my personal liking is inclined to Ciao. Ciao provided delicious Margherita pizza along with the Ciao special pizza. The quality of the ingredients were immensely good and my favourite thing about the pizza would be their authentic handmade dough along with tomatoes which were imported from Italy itself and the fresh basil leaves which they kept along with a juicy mozzarella cheese. This was a perfect combination that anyone can ever have on a slice of pizza. It was heaven in terms of food and even when I am talking about it right now, my mouth waters and craves for this food.

    Band 7

    Recently, I went to visit one of the hill stations in India. The name of that place is Guwahati, which is located in the state of Sikkim. It is at the border of India and Nepal, and China is around that area as well. So in Guwahati, I visited Mall Road, and in Mall Road, we have this Tibetan restaurant which serves really delicious pork momos. In that restaurant, I tried a lot of other things as well, but pork momos stood out immensely for me because it had a very different texture and different taste which I had never tried before. For me, it was like a foreign food. I had never tried pork in my life till then, but once I had it, I got really addicted to it because it tasted so well. It was scrumptious, it was extremely good, and it was cooked with love. I could feel the sense of ingredients, the sense of spice in that. It had really amazing taste, and one of the most important things that they did was they served it with the momos soup, which was one of a kind. It had a very delicious flavor, and I couldn't stop myself from eating and drinking all of it. I liked that particularly because of the flavorful bites that I could never forget since then. The owner of that restaurant was also very welcoming, and he gave us a big discount that day because of their anniversary of the shop, and the whole experience was really very joyful.

    Band 7

    Recently, I have been to Dubai. I tried a food item that I usually find hard to get in India. It was a good rib eye steak. The texture of the steak was similar to that of mutton. It's soft and it melts in my mouth. Although the texture is similar to that of mutton but it doesn't have the pungent smell of red meat. I tried it in Dubai and the mashed potatoes that was served along with it complimented it very well. Also, the roasted vegetables with garlic and olive oil were delicious as well.

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